North Dakota LW4SP study showing disparity in rulings

Opponents of shared parenting have always claimed custody cases are ruled on fairly and impartially

New analysis by LW4SP which calls into question impartiality

Wide variations in outcomes of judicial rulings based on geography of the 8 judicial districts. Avg was from 24% to 48% for joint custody rulings

New Jersey Supreme Court Ruling

Affecting custodial parents moving out of state

Mother was attempting to move children from NJ to Utah against the wished of the father.

Previously – there was presumption that children were happiest when custodial parent was happiest

New ruling , in favor of the father, the social science showing that children need continuous contact with both parents.

US Supreme Court Ruling

Sessions vs Morales-Santana, June 2017

One of only a few Supreme Court cases that have decided family-law issues on the basis of fundamental rights, making it especially important because the constitutional principles it sets out will now apply to all laws, both state and federal, everywhere in the country.

The court seems to have used this case to make a deliberate statement about fathers’ rights.

Opinion written by Justice Ginsburg: Basically struck down a law that assumes unwed mothers influence of their children more than unwed fathers.

“No important governmental interest is served, by laws grounded…. In the obsolescing view that unwed fathers are invariably less qualified and entitled than mothers to take responsibility for nonmarital children…..More generally, when a law’s objective is to exclude or protect members of one gender in reliance on fixed notions concerning that gender’s roles and abilities, the objective itself is illegitimate.”